Various systems have been employed to control viewing access on television receivers provided in public accommodations such as hospital and hotel rooms so that fees may be collected based on the programming made available to the viewer. These systems have variously included scrambling of the television signal and the use of credit cards or tokens. Benjamin et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,229 and Templin et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,651 disclose the use of keys which must be inserted into a lock provided on the side of a television set, the key permitting entry of programming information into a tuner memory via a push-button panel on the set. These systems permit entry of information regarding a program tier but require actuation of push-buttons to enter each channel number individually. Furthermore, the security of this system may be defeated by slight modification of the leads to the switch controlled by the key.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,972 to Cook discloses a hand-held module for programming tier data into the memory of a CATV channel authorization unit from a remote module, the channel authorization unit then limiting the channels which may be viewed on an associated television receiver. A disadvantage of this system is that it requires a separate authorization unit for each television receiver and permits control of only CATV channel access.